Forever In Search Of my Muse

~~~~ i have been crocheting since i was about 13 years old. i remember when i learned to crochet too. i was visiting my great grandmother's trailer with my mom, grandma, and brothers and we were stuck inside because it was raining really hard and great grandma would not let us go outside and play in the rain even though there was no lightening or thunder. So we were all sitting in the living room playing Monopoly and i had lost so i was sitting back and waiting for a new game. i was looking around the room and saw that great grandma had been making these really cute little bags by crocheting them and i knew what crocheting was because i have seen my mom do it all my life. So i asked if someone could teach me how. Great Grandma said she would and got out a ball of variegated red, white, and green Christmas Yarn and started teaching me to do a simple chain stitch and every time my stitches were not just the way she wanted them... an even uniform size that was not too loose or too tight she would take it from me and pull them all out. Mom and Grandma were amazed that i did not get all upset every time she did this because it happened a lot after i would work so hard on it. By the time we left that day i could do a basic chain without a problem and was learning to build it up a single crochet to make a simple blanket, scarf, or something of that nature.

~~~~ i remember going home at the end of the day and my mom letting me go through all of her crochet hooks to find a few that i liked and wanted to work with and then letting me go through all her yarn as well. i found a variegated baby yarn that i really liked and since one of my old babysitters was pregnant with her first child i made her a baby blanket. ( i wish i had pictures of this blanket but i do not i just started taking pictures of all my work) This blanket was not perfect it had one section on the edge where i was still learning to build up the rows correctly and i kept losing a stitch so it came in a bit. When i gave the blanket to the person it was made for and told her it was the first thing i ever made she tried to give it back to me saying i should keep the first thing i ever made and that she was very honored that i would want to give it to her for her baby. i insisted that she keep it. She still has it too and keeps it packed in a her hope chest for her grandchildren to use.

~~~~ Since then i have made and given away many baby blankets in many different styles but never did i use a pattern i just made them up myself. i am just learning to fallow patterns and that is just to make baby hats to give to hospitals for the newborns and other babies there. i have taken that basic pattern and enlarged it to make hats for my son, brothers, and brothers' girlfriends.

~~~~ i love crocheting and find it very relaxing but if i am tired when i start crocheting i will fall asleep with the hook and yarn still in my hand. i have done this several times and my roommate laughs at me and takes the yarn and hook away from me then sends me to bed. It is really sweet of him to do this and he is always so careful when he moves my projects so that he dos not pull any of them out.

~~~~ Right now i am working on a blanket for my friends daughter rippled double stiches (twin bed size), one for my son patchwork granny squares (twin bed size), one for my roommate large two color granny square (queen bed size), and one for myself alternating stitches pattern (queen bed size). Then i have two friends that want me to make blankets for their children so that is 5 more blankets that i need to make i have no idea what size or style yet. Not to mention any of my friends or family that decide to get pregnant and i will have baby blakets to make for them.

~~~~ i have to say though it is a cheap gift to give because the yarn does not cost much and i can make the blanket while i am sitting on the train, watching tv, listening to my son read, or just about anything else. Even though it is a cheap gift in cost most people love the handmade blankets because the time was taken to make the blanket, they are personalized and no two are ever the same so it is always a unique gift.